Short delay to EU Summit over budget deal

http://www.euronews.com/ EU leaders hope a short delay to the start of a two-day summit will give negotiators extra time to agree the bloc's budget for the next seven years.

The first talks of the year between the 27 member states come after leaders failed to reach a deal in November.

Northern European countries including Germany and the UK have demanded similar deep cuts in Brussels to those made at the national level.

France has held out for the budget to be more or less maintained to allow investment that will help reverse high levels of unemployment.

The expenditure ceiling, originally projected at more than a trillion euros a year, has been trimmed several times.

An Italian official says he expects a further 20 billion to be agreed before the meeting gets underway.

That would bring payments down to around 900-905 billion euros a year, more or less what was demanded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Even if the seven year EU budget is approved by leaders, it still has to be voted on by the European parliament. MEPs are likely to oppose any deep cuts.

If the deal is blocked, the current budget will be rolled over into 2014 and a new agreement may not be possible before late 2014.

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